The craziness of March is upon us. USC is dealing with two rather sudden and unexpected absences for its big Saturday night game against Arizona State, with Drew Peterson and Vince Iwuchukwu both sidelined. That’s the very bad news for the Trojans. However, there’s a lot of good news on the bubble.
Other teams battling USC for a final at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament are falling short, giving the Trojans more margin for error if they do wind up losing to ASU on Saturday.
By the time you read this article, you might already know the result of the USC-ASU game, but two hours before tipoff in the Galen Center, we can pass along this piece of breaking news:
The Nevada Wolf Pack, a team located in a position similar to USC’s (last four byes or last four teams in the field), lost in overtime to UNLV on Saturday at home in Reno. The stunning loss — Nevada was up by seven against a shorthanded UNLV team with 3:35 left — is a very bad result for a Nevada team which lost at Wyoming earlier this past week. The two losses have knocked Nevada from a No. 9 or 10 seed position to a spot which is likely out of the field. Nevada is probably “first four out” at best, and very possibly “next four out,” as a result of these two face-plant losses. It’s not as though Nevada needed to beat good teams to get in. The Wolf Pack just had to handle their business against the lower end of the Mountain West.
They couldn’t do it.
Nevada is certain to need at least two wins at the Mountain West Tournament next week. That means after winning a quarterfinal game, Nevada will have to beat either San Diego State or Boise State to make the field of 68. It’s a very positive result for USC and other bubble teams outside the Mountain West.
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